Tuesday, February 24, 2015

I wasn't even planning on seeing Kingsman: The Secret Service. The only reason Abby and I saw it was because it was the only movie that looked halfway-decent in theaters that we hadn't already seen. Our other options were Seventh Son, Jupiter Ascending, and Fifty Shades of Grey. Nahh. Nope. And HARD PASS on Fifty Shades of Grey. So we went into Kingsman:The Secret Service hoping to be at least moderately entertained for an hour or so.

I was very, VERY surprised at the quality of this movie.

I have seen a lot of movies in the past year...most of them in theaters. And in all honesty, I don't think I enjoyed myself as much in any movie this year as I did while watching Kingsman. The film is absolutely fantastic from start to finish. Essentially about a secret British secret service filled with gentlemen who refer to themselves as the Kingsmen, it tackles it's subject matter with plenty of wit, the perfect amount of action...etc. Honestly, it's so much better than anything James Bond has attempted to do that I don't even know where to begin. Let's talk about why it worked so well.

1. For starters, the Kingsman doesn't take itself too seriously. It has iffy CGI, laughable dialogue, and an insane/unbelievable plot. But somehow it embraces those qualities and hits it out of the park. The movie has a distinct Quentin Tarantino feel...incredibly violent, very stylistic cinematography, and Samuel L. Jackson. Yes. Samuel L. Jackson. He's in the movie as the hilarious lisped villain. I loved his character because he takes the whole idea of villains having weird voices and completely mocks it to it's very core. Samuel L. Jackson with a lisp is about as funny as you could imagine.

2. The movie boasts a star-studded cast with Michael Caine, Samuel J., Mark Strong, Colin Firth, and Mark Hamill (yes, the original Luke Skyewalker is in this movie...I was shocked as well). I don't know if people understand how much I adore Colin Firth. He is up there in my top 5 favorite actors, mainly due to his incredible performance in the Kings Speech. This movie takes Colin Firth and turns him into a bonafide bad-ass action star. I'm avoiding spoilers, but there's a church fight scene in this movie that had me glued to the screen for the full 15 or so minutes it lasted. Holy frick it was incredible. This movie is the reason you go the movies. Simply pure entertainment at its finest. Walking out of the theater my face looked a lot like this:

3. Kingsman also gets the most out of it's newbie actors. The main protagonist is played by newcomer Taron Egerton. I have never seen him in anything else, but I'm pretty certain we'll be seeing a lot more of him in the future, whether it be in more movies or more Kingsman movies. Taron plays Eggsy, the main boy recruited to join the Kingsmen and fight off Samuel L. Jackson's character. After seeing him in this role, I can't imagine anyone else doing a better job.

4. I'll just leave this picture here for you. Not much description is necessary. I don't think any spy movie has ever had a cooler bad guy/gal.

Was there anything about this film that I didn't like? The only gripe I can find is that there were a few underdeveloped characters. Kingsman did a great job showcasing Colin Firth, Taran Egerton, and Samuel L. Jackson but didn't do a good job making me care about Michael Caine's character or the main chick who's trying to join the Kingsmen. I would've enjoyed getting to know those characters a little bit more.

If you couldn't tell, I adored this movie. It's vaulted its way to the top of my 2015 movie list (I haven't seen many yet haha).I expect it to last till the end of the year in the top 10. I WILL buy it on BluRay and I already have recommended to numerous friends. Heck, I may even go watch it for a second time in theaters. I never do that.